Former legislator to face Grassley in Senate race

A former state legislator who lives in Iowa City has stepped forward to be the democrat who’ll challenge Republican Senator Charles Grassley’s reelection. Seventy-year-old Art Small says he intends to ask Iowans to give the younger man a chance, since he’s just about a month younger than Grassley. Small is an attorney, a former college professor and a small business owner who served in the Iowa Legislature from 1970 to 1986. Small says he is an underdog, but he’s “not entirely worried about that” because his kids used to watch the cartoon “Underdog” and the main character used to tell folks “there’s no need to fear, Underdog is here.” Small says the race “will be in the hands of the gods.” Small says while George Bush “claimed quite convincingly” that God told him to run, God — according to Small — has not addressed me on this issue at all.” Small says he was actually waiting for someone else to come forward to challenge Grassley.Small says he fully expected some “corn fed Arnold Schwarzenegger to come forward and say ‘Here I am.'” Small admitted on Friday that he’s raised no money for his campaign — compared to the five-and-a-half million Grassley has raised for his reelection. Small says money is polluting politics. Small says corporate interests contribute tremendous amounts of money and expect something in return. Small says “the drug companies didn’t give Charles Grassley five-hundred-thousand dollars because they like the cap he wears when he’s on his tractor.” Small grew up in Maine and moved to Iowa in 1959. At a news conference on Friday, Small made a point of telling reporters that his hobbies were golf and poetry. Small says “while you picture a poet as some guy sashaying down the street, holding a flower in his hand,” William Butler Yates — one of the great poets — was a member of the Irish Senate.